On Feb. 14, Gov. Rick Snyder will sign two new laws which support Michigan citizens who have been wrongfully convicted. I am honored to be invited to attend the ceremonial signing, scheduled at 3:00 P.M. on Valentine’s Day. Exonerees and supporters from across the state will attend. I look forward to attending the ceremony with WMU-Cooley Innocence Project exonerees Kenneth Wyniemko, Nathaniel Hatchett, and Donya Davis.

For over a decade, state Senator Steve Bieda sponsored legislation to compensate Michigan citizens, wrongfully convicted at the hands of the state. Senate Bill 291, sponsored by Bieda, provides $50,000 for each year of incarceration to individuals convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. House Bill 5815, sponsored by state Representative Stephanie Chang, provides for reentry services. The bills, now Public Acts 343 and 344 of 2016, will take effect on March 29, 2017. Michigan joins 31 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government in providing compensation to the wrongfully convicted.

No amount of money can make up for all that is lost from a wrongful conviction. Kenneth Wyniemko lost his father during his wrongful imprisonment and Donya Davis lost time with his children. Nathaniel Hatchett was still in high school when he went to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Hearts are broken and slow to mend. True criminal justice reform comes from laws, policies and practices that prevent a wrongful conviction from happening in the first place.

Public Acts 343 and 344 will provide Michigan exonerees with needed services and financial compensation for years lost to a system that failed them. On Valentine’s Day, let search our hearts for how we can do more.

The author, Marla Mitchell-Cichon, is the director of WMU-Cooley Law School’s Innocence Project. She was honored in fall 2016 with the State Bar of Michigan’s Champion of Justice Award, Michigan Lawyers Weekly 30 Leaders in the Law, and Ingham County Bar Association’s Leo A. Farhat Outstanding Lawyer Award. She led the efforts for the release of WMU-Cooley Innocence Project’s client Donya Davis. Davis was wrongfully convicted of carjacking, armed robbery and rape in 2007. Davis was exonerated in 2014, and is the third client exonerated by the WMU-Cooley Innocence Project. The Project is currently working on 15 promising cases and screening approximately 200 cases for factual innocence.

The WMU-Cooley Law School Innocence Project will host a reception for exonerees and their supporters at the law school on Feb. 14, 2017 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Media inquiries should be directed to innocence@cooley.edu or a WMU-Cooley News & Media contact: